Jessica Ridgeway case prompts development of app to track kids

The Lassy Project application "barks" when something wrong

The Lassy Project's CEO, John Guydon, and co-founder, Laura Ownbey, are pictured in Longmont on Monday, May 20, 2013.
(
Greg Lindstrom
)

LONGMONT -- When 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway disappeared last fall somewhere along her route from home to school, John Guydon said he was shocked and badly wanted to help.

The father of two girls who has a son on the way said any parent who has lost a child for even minutes knows the terror and he believed technology is the answer.

"That's an eternity," he said of five minutes. "Any parent who has lost a child for even five minutes knows that."

The former University of Colorado football defensive tackle is now a technology entrepreneur and with the help of a California-based MIT developer and Laura Ownbey, a marketer and wife of a Longmont police officer, he founded The Lassy Project. Based roughly on Lassie the dog, iconic for getting help for "Timmy" on the classic television show, the project uses GPS and cell phone technology to let parents keep track of their children through a system that sends an alert when a child has left a designated route.

John Guydon, CEO of The Lassy Project, explains Monday, May 20, 2013, how the company's smartphone application works to send alerts.
(
Greg Lindstrom
)

The project is still in its beta phase, but Guydon said he expects a full launch by summer. He said parents who want to opt into the program will be able to do so for a monthly subscription fee, which he estimates will cost less than $10 per month.

The project allows parents to develop a profile for their children and program pre-designated routes for them, like a route from home to school. A cell phone with the child then uses GPS to track the child along the route, but if the child deviates from the route, the "parent list" is notified. That list can include parents and any other designee.

The notification includes a map of the route and a map of where the child has deviated from the route. The application will allow the parents to call the child and cancel the notification if the child is found safe or "escalate" the search.

The "escalation" button notifies others in the area who have opted into the application's "village." That means adults in the area who have signed up to help will receive a photo and description of the child along with information about where the child was last registered on the GPS.

Ownbey said police have helped advise during the development of the program.

"We work with law enforcement constantly," she said.

The application lets anyone on the parent list "escalate" the notice and rally a search party, removing any delay that could be caused while police are notified and, in some cases, while officers seek an Amber Alert. The notifications are far more local than Amber Alerts, which can cover an entire state or neighboring states and require several criteria to be met before they are issued. The escalations will alert police, as well, Ownbey said.

Research shows the first two hours after a child goes missing are the most vital, Guydon said, so the application alerts parents the moment a child goes off of a route and allows them to look into the behavior. Because the app is currently based on cell phone use, if the child stays in place for too long, as though the phone is just sitting somewhere unattended, the application will also send alerts.

"We want this to be a deterrent for kidnappers," he said.

Guydon said he and a number of professional athletes plan to help spread the word about the application. Other marketing efforts to try to get people to sign up for the alerts should launch fully this summer.

"We think the value is in the village," he said.

Once others know about the app, Guydon is confident they will sign up. He said he's asked hundreds of people at random the same question: If he had lost a child, would they help him look?

"Most people in the world are going to say 'absolutely,'" he said.

The program won't notify every subscriber of every missing child, but will use an algorithm to notify those in the area. Anyone can sign up to be in the "village" by providing a cell number, ZIP code, and full name through thelassyproject.com. Names are then checked against criminal background lists before they are included.

The project will also monitor parent use of the program and regulate any issues with parents who use it too frequently or inappropriately.

The beta version relies on cell phones, but Guydon said the group is in talks with developers who could make bracelets or other devices for the children to wear or carry.

Longer-term plans include adding cameras that can be mounted on homes of volunteers that will turn on and record in the event of an escalation to gather evidence for subsequent investigation.

"If we do all of this and we save one kid from being kidnapped and having their life ruined, we succeeded," Guydon said.

Westminster volunteers created a flyer to distribute after 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway disappeared last fall. A new app from The Lassy Project aims to ship information about a missing child to adults in the area moments from the discovery that a child has left a pre-designated route.
(Steve Nehf)

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